STOWER (or Stour) PROVOST is a parish and village, on the river Stour, 3 ½ miles south from Gillingham station, on the London and South Western railway, 4 ¾ west from Shaftesbury, and 6 north from Sturminster, in the Northern division of the county, hundred of Redlane, liberty of Stour Provost, petty sessional division, union and county court district of Shaftesbury, rural deanery of Shaftesbury (Shaftesbury portion), archdeaconry of Dorset and diocese of Salisbury. The church of St. Michael is a building of stone, in the Early English style, consisting of chancel, nave, north aisle, south porch, and embattled western square tower, with 4 bells and striking clock without face; there are three stained windows; that at the east end was presented by the late Rev. Henry James Slingsby, formerly rector, who also placed the old oak roof in the chancel, part of which was taken from the north aisle; the other window in the chancel is to the Rev. Robert Abercrombie Denton, also a former rector of this parish; the one in the west end was placed in 1882, in memory of the Rev. Richard Arthur Francis Barrett, late rector; there are 300 sittings. The register dates from the year 1701. The living is a rectory, with that of Todber annexed, joint yearly value tithe rent-charge £786, average £598, gross income £683, net £492, with 41 acres of glebe and residence, in the gift of the Provost and Fellows of King’s College, Cambridge, and held since 1878 by the Rev. William Henry Whitting M.A. formerly fellow and dean of that college. There is a Primitive Methodist chapel at New Yeate and a Congregational chapel at Stower Row with 200 sittings. Archer’s charity, arising from £228 4s. 11d. £2 ¾ per Cent. Consols, left in 1764 by the Rev. Benjamin Archer, then rector of this parish, is applied in education. There is a quarry on the Manor farm, producing stone suitable for building purposes and road metalling, and one flour mill in the village. The manorial rights are vested in the Provost and Fellows of King’s College, Cambridge, who, are the chief landowners; a court leet is held biennially. The soil is a rich loam; subsoil, rocky. The land consists principally of rich meadows, admirably adapted for dairy pastures. The area is 2,730 acres; rateable value, £4,578 ; the population in 1891 was 700.

Stower Row, a portion of this parish, is on the road from Shaftesbury to Marnhull, and is 3 miles west from Shaftesbury. The church of All Saints is of blue ragstone, with Bath stone dressings, in the Early English style, consisting of chancel, nave and one bell, and will seat 120 people; it was built and opened for service in 1868 as a chapel of ease to the parish church, and was consecrated, together with the surrounding burial ground, in 1878; a stained east window was placed in the year 1882 by subscription, to the Rev. Richard Arthur Francis Barrett, late rector, and in 1883 another stained window was given by Mr. James Stone, in memory of his son, Stephen.

A School Board of 5 members was formed 13 November, 1874; J. Burbidge, Bell street, Shaftesbury, clerk to the board & school attendance officer.

Board School (mixed), with residence for master, built in 1850, for 150 children; average attendance, 110.